Attitudes to Women Politicians

This survey was designed to complement the British Council campaign on the issue in East and Central Africa where separate research was conducted. For further information, go to the: British Council website

30 April 2002

Gender

1,002 interviews conducted by telephone between 5 and 7 April 2002, among adults aged 16+ throughout Great Britain
All data are weighted to the known national population profile
An asterisk (*) denotes a figure of less than 0.5% but greater than zero
Where percentages do not sum to 100%, this is because of computer rounding or multiple responses
The base for each question is all respondents interviewed (1,002) unless otherwise stated

Q1 Generally speaking, how would you compare the lives of men and women in Britain? Would you say that men generally have a better life overall, women have a better life overall or is there no real difference between men and women in this respect?

	%
Men better	31
Women better	7
No real difference	59
Don't know	3

Q2 And how effective a job do you think that British politicians are doing to improve the lives of a) men and b) women in this country?

	a) men	b) women
	%	%
Very effective	4	6
Fairly effective	35	40
Not very effective	33	32
Not effective at all	14	13
Don't know	14	10

Effective	39	46
Not effective	47	45

Q3 Which, if any, of the following groups do you think does the most to improve the lives of women in this country?

	%
Parliament	16
Local councils	18
Religious groups	6
Pressure groups	29
Charities	22
Private sector organisations	18
Other:
Women's groups	1
Women themselves	1
Other	*

None of these	1
Don't know	17

Q4 Do you think that female politicians are more or less effective than male politicians in improving the lives of women in this country or are they about the same?

	%
Females more effective	32
Females less effective	8
About the same	56
Don't know	4

Q5a Why do you say that? What other reasons do you have?

Base: All who say female politicians are more effective (314)

Top mentions:	%
Women are more in line with female thinking / Maternal instincts / They know what women want	67
Women are more proactive / forceful than men	14
Women have to work harder	3
Margaret Thatcher / Betty Boothroyd are good examples	3
Women are more trustworthy/More genuine	3

Q5b Why do you say that? What other reasons do you have?

Base: All who say female politicians are less effective (83)

Top mentions:	%
Politics is male dominated / controlled	22
Women are not taken seriously	20
Low number of women in politics	17
There was no great difference when Margaret Thatcher was in power	9
Women are there as a token	4

Q5c Why do you say that? What other reasons do you have?

Base: All who say female and male politicians are about the same (568)

Top mentions:	%
The same / There's no difference	57
Equal rights / Equal opportunities	7
Number of women in politics	5
Once in power everyone is out for themselves	4

Q6 What do you think are the main challenges, if any, faced by female politicians in terms of improving the lives of women in Britain?

Top mentions:	%
Men's attitudes / Male opposition / Sexism	15
Low representation / Male domination	10
Being taken seriously / acknowledged	9
Equal rights/opportunities	7
Equal pay	7
Childcare	5
We need more women in Parliament	4
Women have to fight twice as hard / Have to stand up for themselves	3
Balancing work with family commitments	2

Q7 Do you think that female politicians should have more or less responsibility than male politicians for improving the lives of women in this country or do you think they should have equal responsibility?

	%
Females should have more responsibility	15
Less responsibility	1
About the same	82
Don't know / No opinion	2

Q8 Roughly what percentage of the MPs in the House of Commons do you think are women? What would be your best estimate

	%
0 to 5%	15
6% to 10%	21
11% to 15%	13
16% to 20%	17
21% to 25%	8
26% to 30%	10
31% to 35%	3
36% to 40%	3
41% to 45%	1
46% to 50%	2
More than 50%	1

18% (correct answer)	1

Don't know	8

Q9 And do you think that the number of women MPs in the House of Commons is too many, too few or about right?

	%
Too many	3
Too few	70
About right	18
Don't know	10

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